[Conquer yourself and you will conquer the world]

Rai’d never actually seen the slogan of the Academy before, but now that he had time to wander around the Academy grounds, he’d noticed multiple plaques with that line etched into them. Conquering the world wasn’t a concept that he found himself fond of, but the general message of self-improvement was something Rai resonated with.

Since he’d left class early, the Academy was pretty much barren. Not a single student in sight. Though, Rai’d seen a few teachers here and there running to different places. One even stopped him and asked why he wasn’t in class. After he explained his situation, the teacher gave him a pitying look and told him to try find something productive to do.

From the pitying look the teacher gave him, Rai figured that even the other teachers found Miss Lillia to be somewhat... disagreeable. Still, she wasn’t awful. Sin had an even worse experience with teachers than Rai had. She mentioned that one of the teachers had it out for her, trying to catch her out and punish her for absurd reasons. He was glad that he hadn’t seen a teacher like that yet. Though, he'd only really been to a couple classes since he started at the Academy, so there was still time.

Rai really liked the Academy grounds. The outdoor grounds were well maintained, and offered a serene area for students to rest in. He found himself in the grounds after aimlessly walking around for a while. It was probably because he was fond of outdoor areas like these. Even though the Academy was far more pristine and well maintained, the general feeling of simply walking around them was nostalgic. It reminded him of home.

Rai was about to turn a corner when he heard a voice from the other side.

“What do you want from me?” It wasn’t a voice he recognised, but Rai could tell it sounded like a man. He seemed distraught.

Another group of voices pierced the silence with their laughter.

“Look! He’s about to piss himself!” The voices laughed even louder.

Then, Rai heard the ignition of a flame.

The laughter stopped. One of the voices from the group sounded excited, “Oh shit! Hey, dumb-fuck! You’d better keep your eyes open, or you’ll miss Loken’s fire burning your jewels to bits!!” There was a hysterical venom in the boy’s voice.

A deeper voice boomed, making its way around the corner, “Keep ‘em open. You’ll only lose an eye, it’s better than losing your balls.” The group giggled again. “Hold him, Malford.”

The distraught boy sounded even more panicked now than before, “No! No no please don’t- it’s not fair, I’ll give you whatever you want!”

Loken’s deep voice boomed once more in a hefty chuckle, “What could a shitty bottom-feeder like you possibly give me? It’s simple, you lose an eye or your balls!” He laughed maniacally, prompting the group of boys to laugh along with him.

The panic reached its climax. “HELP! SOMEBODY HELP M-” Smack!

This time, the voice of the boy called Malford came around the corner. The venom Rai could initially sense in his voice was still present. It reminded him of Pico, “Who the fuck said you could call for help! We’ve obviously got a silenced field around here, no one will hear you!"

Rai had to make a decision. He didn’t want to get into more trouble, and he definitely didn’t want to make any more enemies. Still... he couldn’t just leave that kid to get beat up. Rai steeled himself. He wouldn’t gravely injure the bullies, but he’d at least try to save the kid. Only if he had to, would he defend himself.

Malford continued, "... Stupid fuck-”

One of the unknown boys yelled out, “Hey, who’s that?” He pointed at the corner that Rai was behind.

The group of boys turned their heads to the corner that Rai was stood.

Rai raised his hand to greet them, “Hello there.”

Malford yelled out, “Who are you?!”

Rai pointed to the boy with blood, sweat, and tears all over his face and uniform. “I need him for a minute. Can I borrow him?”

Malford’s head dipped. He slowly started chuckling. “And if I said no?”

Rai thoughtfully put his finger on his chin, “Not sure really. Didn’t think that far.”

The group of boys stared at him in silence. A moment passed. Malford burst out in laughter, “Bahahah! Look at this guy!” His smile disappeared. “Loken, get him.”

Nothing happened.

Malford popped a vein, “Loken!” He turned his head around to the brute. Malford’s anger went up a notch. “The fuck is wrong with you! You’re giving us a bad name!”

Loken was shaking. Sweat dripped off of his face, and the flame that was once so bright that Rai could see its light on the floor was nowhere to be seen, “Him.” His lips were quivering, “He’s the one... Pico!”

Malford whipped his head back around to Rai, “You’re the one who killed Pico?”

Rai, for once, had a serious expression on his face, “I’m sorry but I had to defend myself.”

Malford leapt to his feet, “Defend yourself?! He was our friend! And you killed him...” There were multiple veins popping out of his forehead.

Rai sighed, “I truly am sorry, but when I have to choose between living and dying I’m going to choose to live.” He looked at the boy that was being beaten up, “Besides, I just want you guys to stop beating up that kid.” He pointed to the boy who was heavily shivering.

Malford wasn’t having any of it. “You lot,” He looked at the other boys in the group, “go kill him.”

The other boys smiled. They pulled weapons out of their spatial runes.

Rai didn’t want to fight, “Please. We can sort this out without fighting!”

The first one flew at Rai with a grin on his face. He brandished a greatsword.

He's slow.

The boy went for an overhead slice aimed straight at Rai’s head. He sidestepped, then waited until the blade hit the ground. Rai took the downtime to pivot and kick the guy in the balls.

The boy keeled over and clutched his groin.

Everyone present collectively winced.

Malford also winced as he watched what just happened, “You fighting dirty?!”

Rai frowned, “No! I don’t want to fight at all! Also, you were about to burn that poor kid’s balls so why can’t I kick that guy’s?”

For fucks’ sake. They’re so stupid that I can’t even avoid fighting. Do I have to fight? Fighting for something like this isn’t worth it...

Rai looked at the battered kid. He’s so pitiful... I’m not going to get hurt if I fight them, but they’ll get hurt if they fight me. Okay, I’ll hurt them enough to get them to leave, that should be fine.

One of the boys yelled out, “What the fuck! You bitch!” He flew towards Rai, just like the first one. The other two followed after him. One of them yelled out “He can’t get all three of us!”

Rai analysed the boys quickly. They all had different weapon types. One had a greatsword, just like the first boy, while the other two had a greataxe and a warhammer each. Even though they were different weapons, the way you would fight with them often overlapped. After thinking for a second, Rai quickly used telekinesis on the warhammer, slamming it into the boy’s chest. He was instantly knocked unconscious. Rai winced as a jolt of pain passed through him. Still, he wanted to do this. Mana problems or not, Rai wasn't going to lose.

Rai spared a second to see his chest still rising up and down. The impact wasn’t that hard, just enough to wind the raging boy.

The other two continued charging at him. It only took a couple seconds, but they reached him and swung wildly. Neither of them had any kind of strategy in mind, they simply tried to hit him. Rai grinned, Well, that makes this a bit easier.

Rai imbued wind magic into his feet, then jumped. He flew up high. Rai looked down to see the greatsword and greataxe clang against each other, forming a satisfying reverberating sound.

One of the boys shouted at the other, “Hey! We’re not aiming at each other!”

The one who was shouted at looked around, “Where’d he go?”

Malford yelled, “LOOK UP YOU IDIOTS!”

Rai’d already formulated his next spell. The two looked up. A harsh wind bombarded them.

It was over in seconds.

Malford clicked his teeth, “Shit!”

Rai floated back down to the ground, the wind magic still enveloping his feet, “Phew. Can you guys leave him alone now?”

Malford couldn’t believe his eyes. Two of them were squashed against the ground. One was still reeling from being kicked in the balls while the other slammed his own warhammer into his chest. This scene was absurd. Four of his closest friends were wiped out just like that, by a complete no-name.

“FUCK!” Malford’s pride in his friends was resolute, but seeing these fools give them all a bad name was infuriating.

He stared at Rai, “Fine. I’ll fight you.”

Rai tilted his head, then aimed his thumb back over his shoulder, “Shouldn’t you take care of those guys first?”

Malford blinked. He stared blankly at his four incapacitated friends, “Fine! You win this time... Gather them Loken, we're leaving.” He was seething, but now wasn’t the time to pick a fight. Soldiers had fallen on the battlefield; it was time to tend to them.

Even if they were awful soldiers.

Rai waited for them to leave.

After watching to see them go, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Why do they always have to fight?” He shook his head; the irony was completely lost on him. Another jolt of pain passed through his body. This time, it lingered. "What... what the fuck is happening?" Rai whispered to himself. As much as he wanted to figure out what was going on with his body, there was something more important to worry about right now. Rai walked over to the quivering boy who was still laying on the ground.

Rai reached his hand out. The boy winced, and pulled himself further away from Rai. Rai frowned, “Hey. I’m not trying to hurt you. Stand up, we’ll go get you checked up at the other infirmary.” There were multiple smaller infirmaries at the Academy since the grounds were so big. Rai knew this because he took his mother’s words to heart. If he was to hurt people in spars or fights, or if he was to get hurt himself, then he’d have to know where all of the infirmaries were.

The boy shook his head, “Leave me alone! I don’t want your pity!”

Rai stared at him. He pulled his hand back, “Alright then. Take care of yourself.” Rai left around the corner that he came from.

He didn’t look back.